Platinum Bullion

In 1975, after the Arab Oil Embargo and collapse of the Bretton-Woods agreement sparked increases in precious metals prices, Tanaka Kikinzouku Kogyo KK, the leading bullion house in Japan, introduced platinum bars that were small enough for the individual investor to buy. With platinum close to $180 per ounce, Tanaka's five gram and ten gram bars could be bought by investors for well under $100. That platinum bullion investments were first introduced in Japan made perfect sense because platinum jewellery was already highly popular there.

With platinum's huge price changes during the late 1970's and early 1980's interest in platinum bullion investing spread to Europe and the United States. Two platinum fabricators began to produce one and ten ounce platinum bars. Soon thereafter, the variety of platinum bullion bars rose as JM, Engelhard and Tanaka expanded their lines and firms like Degussa jumped into the market.